Collecting New York State OA, one patch at a time.

About

To share information about new or newly discovered Order of the Arrows patches, flaps, odd-shapes, neckerchiefs, event and chapter issues from New York State Order of the Arrow Lodges, warnings about fakes, spoof, and reproductions and any other information that may be of interest to New York State OA Collectors.
Issue Numbers are subject to change as I become aware of new issues, errors or omissions in listings.

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Posts belonging to Category Patch Collecting Supplies/Resources

One of the best resources for information on what section a lodge is and was in as well as keeping up on changes in the Section Lineups is the OA Section List maintained by Rob Higgens.

The OA Section List has just celebrated its 20th Anniversary a few days ago on June 19. That is an incredible accomplishment to keep a website up and running for so long.

You can see the original version by clicking on the image below.

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“A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts.” —James Madison (1792)

Thread Heads is a irregular video series put out by Jason Spangler and Brad England

In this episode, Jason interviews John Ortt on OA Pins known generically as Caldwell Pins which is a niche area of OA collecting.

With the Order of the Arrow celebrating it’s centennial 2015 this episode of Thread Heads goes back to the earliest lodge insignia before anybody had a lodge pocket flap on their shirt. When the OA was just a few years old some lodges began making Brotherhood and Vigil Honor pins in the same line as popular fraternity pins. The distinguishing factor for many of these was the arrow attached by a short chain to the totem pin. Today these early lodge pins are the rarest of all Order of the Arrow insignia.

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“The past might hurt but don’t run from it, repeat it, or punish others for it. Learn from it and be glad that you survived it.” ― Rob Liano

I had previously written about PatchScan a smart phone App which can read the QR code on the back of many of the recent BSA patches.

As long as your device has an internet connection, you can scan the special code that’s on the back of many official Boy Scout patches. Once you scan that code, the app will tell you everything you need to know. You’ll even see a scan of a patch from the same production run so you can verify that the patch in your hand is legit.

I’m not sure how frequently it is updated, as several issues from Kintecoying Lodge which contain QR codes which can be read with the App. These patches were issued in November and December of last year are not included either under the Lodge or Council gallery.

I was able to use it to find a Buckskin Lodge issue which I had not previously been able to confirm.

Give it a try.

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“We’re all put to the test… but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?” ― David Mamet

recorded at the Dallas TOR in 2013 there is a discussion led by Roy More of TSPA that catches up on that history and explains what is going on with Blue Book 2.0. The Blue Book was published in 1996 and eventually the printed book included 5 editions that came in two year intervals. The final version was released almost completely as a digital product in 2006.

Need to value your patches, want to check to see if the price you’ve been quoted is a good one? There is a new online resource available PatchTrends.com.

Clicking on the image will bring you to the website.

Patchtrends.com is a place to purchase affordable patch price data and analytics.

Brett Estrade and Jason Spangler (As Brett points out in the comments, Jason was not involved in this project) launched http://www.patchtrends.com several months ago. They have an online Prices Realized Guide, which provides robust, searchable data. It contains eBay data from actual sales since the beginning of the year and now includes pictures of each lot. There are now over 1,000,000 prices. Jason shows how you can use the site to value some patches.

There is a free option, but to get unrestricted access there is a $ 15.00 (now only $ 5.95 an even greater value) per year subscription fee.

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“Civilization only lasts as long as the citizens trust that they will have food tomorrow.” – Orson Scott Card, in Sarah: Women of Genesis

For those of you whose OA collecting extends outside of New York State, there is a new website to check out.

Clicking on the image, will bring you to the Site.

Another new effort from Jason Spangler, he describes the reason for website.

There are 17 lodges that stretch across Order of the Arrow sections SR-5 and SR-7B covering North Carolina, South Carolina and a sliver of Georgia. CarolinaOA.com is a website built to share and preserve Scouting history and knowledge of memorabilia among Boy Scout collectors.

Each of the lodges represented in the site has a lodge editor(s) who is charged with providing the latest news on issues from that lodge and also helping to pass on the story of the memorabilia issued over the years.

Still a work in progress, but go check it out. Hopefully some other states will follow suit.

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“For the skeptic there remains only one consolation: if there should be such a thing as superhuman law it is administered with subhuman inefficiency.” Eric Ambler

John Pannell has a new feature in beta on OA Images. It gives the user the ability to upload new or missing images to the website. It looks something like this.

When you are on a lodge webpage you will see this button.

I’ve notice in Internet Explorer I need to be signed into the site to see the button, but in Firefox, I see the upload button whether I’m signed in or not. Once you click on the Upload Button you will be brought to a page to add your image.

Clicking on the image will bring you to a larger version.

Once you have selected your image and filled in some basic information, click submit and you will be brought to this screen.

And your done. Your image and listing will appear at the bottom of the Lodge’s Listing until John can properly categorize it.

So if your lodge is missing some images, here is your chance to help catch up the listing. Go check it out.

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“An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously.” Charles F. Kettering